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Just for perspective: The German national football team is worth approximately €1.31 billion, the Netherlands national team is valued at €805 million, and the Greece national team stands at €323.60 million according to Transfermarkt market valuations Keeping the germans off the scorecard 2 games in a row show a huge accomplishment and a vast improvement in defensive play likely due to the younger players maturing and the contribution of the older players. Personally I think a lot of this is also due to the impact Jovanovic has had on the players, nobody wants to come off, they have each others back and everyone wants to contribute....fantastic team mentality which we haven't seen in the last 12 years. Let him continue until he screws up and then they can fire him....but until that happens let him work. For Greece to succeed they have to do so as a team and not as a group of individual talents (regardless of how impressive we may think they are).

The best thing is we’re guaranteed pot 1 for the Euro qualifiers. We must qualify automatically finishing 1st in qualifying

He didn't leave, he said he wouldn't be available for these games. His wife was going to be scheduled to give birth then and she was having complications. Rumor has it that he had a falling out with Ivan.

Guys this squad value of Germany consists of Havertz, Tah, shlotterbeck, Musialia, Kimmich and several other players who didn’t play today and have been hurt, Same with the Dutch. In fact if u take starting 11 squad values today our teams are a lot closer than that: my point remains: WE ARE GREATLY IMPROVING AND I AM GENUINELY THRILLED. Everyone here keeps giving these explanations about why I should just shut up and be happy and trust me I am gladly wrong about Ionnidis for example and I hope I’m wrong about coach not being able to adapt his tactics. My singular point is this: very impressive results but we should be cautious about how we are playing long term and yes these teams are better than us on paper but they aren’t the giants we think we have slayed as they are currently constructed. We can be proud of our results while also pointing out the facts. I’m glad my hot takes are getting the forum popping though, feeling like skip bayless or Steven A smith😂

Why does your font look like you're yelling

Of course we’ll take the results. None of us were expecting this, so let us enjoy it Re Gamoto lol.. More importantly, it gives confidence to a young team. Of course the performances still need improvement, and yes, we didn’t face Germany of old and the Netherlands absolute best. But not long ago we were losing to Scotland and struggling to beat teams like Georgia. In my opinion, this is a massive step forward for the national team. Sure, we’re still thin and we don’t have five quality options at every position, but we have a bunch of young, creative players. If the coach plays the right system and selects the right players, they’ve shown they can become a dangerous team. Nobody is saying we’re suddenly one of the best teams in Europe. We just want to get back to tournaments, compete, and show we can hold our own against good teams. These results showed we’re moving in that direction. I didn’t want this coach back either, but since they started with him in the nations league, you can’t possibly get rid of him after these results at the moment.

Torosidis red card (no this isn’t a message from 2010)

Or you can trust that Olympiakos journo who claimed it's because he's secretly a Jehova's Witness and no longer believes in ethnicity. My guess is that it is simply because of his son, though. That is more than enough of a reason to refuse call ups for one set of games. It's certainly possible that the coach's continued use of subpar players over him (Bakasetas, mainly) played a role in his leaving. But, that doesn't seem to be part of his character. He never made problems while at PAOK, and Lucescu was if anything more stubborn than the NT coach. Ultimately I'd be more concerned if he refuses callups after his recovery is complete. It would also be an enormous loss to the STIPIKI (bonus points if you're old enough to remember that reference). He could well be the most talented guy we've had in decades.

Tomorrow U21 plays the last game in this qualifying stage of the competition. We face Northern Ireland in an away game and we need to win by 2 goal margin to automatically qualify to the finals of U21 EURO 2027. The other way to automatically qualify is to beat Northern Ireland and Germany does not beat Georgia, which is highly unlikely. At a minimum we have secured a playoff spot and have a chance to make the finals through the playoffs, but the easiest way is to win tomorrow by 2 goal margin.

A few thoughts on this cycle - you can tell that our players are improving. Even last year, Kostoulas was barely playing, Karetsas and Tzolis were in the Netherlands, Delias was at Paok, Koulierakis was in a relegation German team. Mouzakitis/Tzolakis also just got a move. Ioannidis was hurt all of last year. Give it a year, especially once Delias is fully recovered and playing at Dortmund, we will be a completely different team. Plus we will have an opportunity to see Tzimas as well. We are trending up, let's enjoy this. Regarding the German/Holland sides we played, they are still top 10 teams even if all their stars weren't playing.

The irony here is that even if Konstantelias comes back, we have so many CFs that we might not see him (or anyone else) as a #10. Though I'm sure Bakasetas will get called up again at some point and Jovanovic will cream his jeans at the thought of shoehorning him in, so maybe I'm wrong there. I just want to call out that not initially including Pelkas was a real boneheaded move. He's a better player than Masouras and would at least have provided some depth on the wings. We also had no actual #10 in the squad until he showed up. Kind of makes our formation pretty predictable/inflexible. Tzolis probably will be recovered by the next games, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get called up since it will be very close. Going into those matches, what's Jovanovic going to do? I'm very doubtful that we can play for a draw in Holland with at least one of our "golden generation" missing. Perhaps we'll see a 3-5-2 and just rely on wingbacks? Giannoulis is better going forward so perhaps that will help cover up any gaps on the left (though it still leaves RWB without cover): --Tzolakis-- --Retsos--Mavropanos--Koulierakis-- --Saliakas--Zafeiris--Karetsas--Kourbelis--Tsimikas-- --Kostoulas--Pavlidis-- I do like the idea of Karetsas actually playing his main position, tbh.

Good player ratings. Personally I would give Mavropanos a 10 he was just incredible winning every aerial duel and blocking shots. Also I would give Tzimikas a 9 what a string of matches he has put together this international window.

Yes that was the main objective at the start of this NL campaign to finish at least third place. If Greece can finish in the Top 2 spots then we secure a Euro playoff ticket and Greece will qualify for the quarter finals of the Nations League tournament a great bonus which will allow the new generation of players the possibility of playing for a trophy vs the elite football nations of Europe.

Player ratings: Tzolakis - 10/10 - I'm not sure what else we can ask of him in this clean sheet. Looked commanding in the air, calm, never made one mistake, and was also top quality when he had the ball on his foot with great passes and skill. He was world class today. Saliakas - 8.5/10 - Very impressed with him. Showing big confidence good defensively. Mavropanos - 8/10 - Playing his best football for us. Kouleirakis - 9/10 - A big statement game in this return. Tsimikas - 7/10 - Good, but limited Masouras - 6/10 - A fit and athletic player but average abilities. Should be an impact sub not starting. Kourbelis - 6/10 - Did his job. Zafeiris - 8/10 - Excellent game. Was all over the pitch. Kyziridis - 9/10 - Impressed me. Great performance. Pavlidis - 7.5/10 - Decent job Ioannidis - 9/10 - His best match for the NT by some margin. He was right up for it stepped up justifying selection. Karetsas - 8/10 - Looked very good with the ball and defensively as well. Kostoulas - 8/10 - Looked threatening

First time I’ve ever seen that font

All jokes aside, like I keep saying, I’m very excited that we are beating a weak Germany versus drawing with Kosovo and I am very excited for the future.

What can I say? It’s in our blood😂😂

Yeah, I don't like that we're now qualifying wins over freaking Germany! Fine, they're in a down cycle for them, sometimes that's what it takes. Greek people just don't like to be happy.

Again I 100% agree with you, I’m just worried that in typical Greek fashion EPO will reward him with a longer contract and then we waste this generation. I’m still celebrating and reloading the group table everyday just to see us in the top 2 lol. Of course just qualifying for a major tournament would be a huge change of pace but I think we are capable of so much more. It has been a huge improvement but I just don’t want us to sell ourselves short.

I could care less about 1st place. Realistically we lose to Netherlands and Germany beats Serbia. Good thing is we own the tiebreaker vs the Germans so if we beat the Serbs no matter what we get 2nd minimum

The team showed the grit and the fight of the '04 team today. Very proud of that. Contained the German handily actually. A healthier team and some things we can do better and it's a win today. Great things are happening with this team.

He didn't look too happy at being taken off.

We also have to remember that Karetsas was in the hospital 3 weeks ago.